


A foolish girl and her brother

by belivaird_st, dusk_at_seven (belivaird_st)



Category: Disney - All Media Types, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22152874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st, https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/dusk_at_seven
Summary: Clara Stahlbaum has told Fritz about their mother’s magical kingdom and decides to let the made-up characters meet him.
Relationships: Philip Hoffman/Clara Stahlbaum
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	A foolish girl and her brother

Louise picks up her sister’s egg-shaped jewelry box and opens it, allowing the tinkle notes of Tchaikovsky to warble and play out. She grins the moment she flips over the tiny mirror to view her own reflection. Clara peers around from her writing in a leather bound journal. She holds up her feather quill pen dipped in ink.

“Be careful with that,” she tells her older sister. “I don’t want it smashed to pieces.”

“How’d you get this thing to open in the first place?” Louise asks. “Did you find the key?”

“Yes...” Clara trails off. She turns back around, hoping for no more questions. 

Fritz, the girls’ young brother, comes walking into the bedroom with a tray of cookies and glasses of milk. 

“I got Cook’s permission,” he explains, bringing the tray over towards the surprised-looking Louise sitting on her bed. He lets her take a cookie off the plate and bites into it. The oldest Stahlbaum makes a wretched face and presses a hand against her mouth.

“My god, that tastes ghastly!” she complains. “What flavor?”

“Gingersnap,” Fritz replies, grinning. Then he holds up a glass of milk for her to wash out the spicy aftertaste. Louise takes it quickly and gulps loudly. 

“Would you like any, Clara?” Fritz now brings the serving tray over to the middle Stahlbaum child. He stands beside her at her reading desk, watching her glance up from her cursive handwriting.

“Did you say, gingersnap?” she reaches for a fresh homemade cookie off the plate and her glass of milk.

“I did.” Fritz staggers on his feet. He watches Clara eat her cookie, witnessing the gleam in her eyes.

“I know somebody who would love these,” Clara speaks with her mouth full, getting crumbs everywhere. Louise judges her uncleanliness from the bed behind her with the egg sealed shut, left lying on the lap of her dress.

“Mother Ginger, right?” Fritz Stahlbaum remembers the misunderstood fairy tale character his sister had mentioned to him last Christmas.

“That’s right. Mother Ginger.” Clara has finished eating the cookie and takes a few sips of milk. She grows a milky mustache on her upper lip she doesn’t bother to wipe off. “If we brought these to her, she’d be very thankful, I’m sure.”

“Here we go again with your strange imagination,” Louise mutters under her breath. She clicks her drinking glass with her neatly cut nails. Fritz pays no attention to his least favorite sister, and keeps his focus on Clara like a theater star. 

“When are you going to take me to the Christmas Forest, Clara? Is there really a nutcracker captain named, Philip?”

Clara laughs and grows excited. “He’s my friend. Maybe I could invite him over to meet you—”

“What utter nonsense,” Louise quips. She has had enough of hearing Clara’s foolery and stands up to take her empty glass back to the kitchens.

It’s now just the two younger Stahlbaum children in the bedroom. Fritz lays the tray half buried on top of Clara’s journal and nibbles on a warm cookie. He watches Clara move toward the bed to pick up the egg. She opens it apart, letting out the tinkle notes of Tchaikovsky play out.

“I know you two will get along great,” she says quietly. “Mother Ginger could come along, too. And the Mouse King...”

“Let’s go!” Fritz bounces excitedly on the pads of his feet. He runs up to snatch Clara’s hand and steers her toward the hall, but she stands back, refusing to budge.

“Fritz, we can’t,” she says firmly. “We’d have to go back to Drosselmeyer’s. That’s where Mother’s kingdom is located!” 

“Mother’s kingdom,” Fritz repeats, letting go of Clara’s hand with a whine rumbling the back of his throat. “I wish Mother was alive to take us.”

“I wish for that, too, but Father is very good friends with Drosselmeyer. It won’t be long before he invites us all back for dinner. That’ll be our chance!”

“Cook wants her dishes back, Fritz, dear boy,” Louise declares, arriving once more. She catches the suspicious looks her siblings give her and feels self conscious. “What are you two plotting?” she demands, placing both hands on her hips.

“Nothing,” both Clara and Fritz chorus. Fritz then quickly grabs the dessert tray and holds it out. Louise takes it from him and gives one final look before disappearing. 

Clara heads back towards her journal on her reading desk and finds where she left off. Fritz moves toward the bed to play with the egg-shaped music box. He’s so excited, his heart pounds rapidly inside his small chest.


End file.
